With a sigh, I extricated myself from the kiss. I didn’t want to stop—my whole body was throbbing with need and desire and the longing to keep kissing him. But I made myself anyway.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I just…I can’t.”
“I understand little girl,” he rumbled, letting me go. “From now on, we won’t have any intimate contact, I promise.”
“I mean…unless you need to bite me,” I pointed out.
But Vik’tor shook his head.
“Might not even need to do that. I just took some of your blood a little while ago—so I’m good for now.”
“Oh…” I never would have believed I would be disappointed aboutnotbeing bitten, but I was—I reallywas.
“Go on and take your bath, baby,” Vik’tor said gently. “And go lay down in the sleeping chamber afterwards. It’s been a long fucking day and night—you’re probably all worn out.”
When he put it that way, I realized how tired I was—actually, more like exhausted—both mentally and physically, not to mention emotionally. So much had happened to me in the past day and night I felt like a whole different person—a reallytiredperson. But I still wanted a bath.
“Okay,” I said, nodding. “Thank you, Vik’tor.”
“You’re welcome, baby,” he rumbled. “Go on and take a bath and rest. I’ll see you later.”
And he turned and went back towards the cockpit, leaving me to find the bathing room.
THIRTY-TWO
VIK’TOR
Icalled my Security Chief and told him all about Azz’lx and how he was out and I wanted his office cleared immediately.
To my surprise, he nodded in whole-hearted agreement.
“This is excellent news, Baron,” he told me. “I’ve had a feeling for some time that Master Azz’lx was cheating you—I’m not surprised to hear that my suspicions were confirmed.”
“Cheating me?” I asked in surprise. “What do you mean?”
He frowned.
“Isn’t that why you’re getting rid of him? I’ve noticed for some months that there seemed to be a stream of revenue leaving the main flow. I even confronted Master Azz’lx about it, but he said that you had personally sanctioned it to pay for an ‘experimental’ product line. Was that not true?”
“No, it wasn’t fucking true,” I growled, frowning. “Why didn’t you come to me about this?”
“I was going to!” the Security Chief protested. “Today, as a matter of fact. But I’ve been gathering evidence. I have all the facts and figures ready for you, my Lord. If you’d like to come in and see them?”
I shook my head.
“I have to go off-planet for a while. Send them to me on my ship.”
“Yes, of course, your Lordship.” He nodded. “Will there be anything else?”
“Not right now,” I told him. “Just keep an eye on things while I’m gone. And under no circumstances is Azz’lx allowed to come back to the office—I don’t even want him in my fucking building! He has a week to move somewhere else.”
“Understood, my Lord Baron. He will be evicted immediately.” The Security Chief nodded. “And I’ll send you the evidence against him at once.”
“See that you do,” I growled and signed off.
Then I sat there for a moment. So Azz’lx had been cheating me too. The dishonest bastard! How had he fooled me so completely?
I won’t lie—it fucking bothered me. Made me feel like a fool. But it didn’t bother me half as much as the idea of losing Natalie.